Search

Reader Article: Controversial Art Pieces that Shocked The World

Ad

Over the years, art has often been used to shock an audience into feeling a strong emotion or carrying out a specific action. Art and controversy have grown more prominent over the years and remain closely linked today. These ten pieces created a splash in the world of art and left a lasting impact.

Liz and Phil Down by the Lake by Greg Taylor

This Australian sculpture featured Elizabeth and Prince Philip sitting in the buff in front of the Canberra Parliament House. It lasted a mere week before an angry protester beheaded Queen Elizabeth. Further vandalism of the sculpture resulted in its removal.

Hedge Row by Angela Singer

British artist Angela Singer combines a love of animals and art to support the cause of animal rights. Singer uses taxidermy techniques to draw attention to the wounds of hunted animals, which appear realistic enough to nauseate and disgust much of her audience.

Piss Christ by Andres Serrano

Serrano caused a scandal that was heavily debated on the floor of the United States Senate in 1989. The photograph of a tiny plastic crucifix in a cup of Serrano's urine sparked much debate surrounding artistic freedom, but won a competition held by the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.

Love and Redemption by Joel Peter-Witkin

Peter-Witkin's highly graphic photography features the dismembered arm and head of a human corpse. This piece was created in Mexico, because its production would have been illegal in the United States.

Shark by David Cerny

This work was created as a parody of the equally controversial Damien Hirst piece entitled "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living." Cerny's version depicts a nearly naked Saddam Hussein handcuffed and suspended in a tank of formeldehyde.

Myra by Marcus Harvey

Featured in the 1997 Royal Academy of Art exhibit known as Sensation, this portrayal of murderer Myra Hindley was made using children's handprints. It was egged by protesters on opening day.

Still Life with Stem Cells by Patricia Piccinini

Part of Piccinini's 2002 exhibit, "Still Life with Stem Cells" explores the possible consequences of genetic engineering by portraying a young girl playing with what appear to be blobs of human flesh.

Yo Mama’s Last Supper by Renee Cox

Inspired by the famous Da Vinci painting, this painting includes eleven black men, one white man and a naked black woman (who is actually Renee Cox) at the Last Supper.

Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston by Daniel Edwards

About the Author

You Are Art is a UK-based digital artists, illustrators and designers who make a living out of taking ordinary photos and turning them into contemporary works of art.

Related

Wallpaper magazine's January beauty news inspired this post on Juniper Ridge, a fragrance distillery founded in 1998 and located in my new stomping grounds of Oakland, CA. I'm personally obsessed with the art of perfume making simply because of the rush of vivid memories one experiences when smelling a particular scent. Juniper Ridge is the world's only wild fragrance company comprised of hikers and backpackers, not your typical fashion or luxury goods folks.

The House Of Peroni - an event by M & C Saatchi. They invited Baroncelli, the visionary lighting design studio, to design an installation inspired by Rome. The result, a phantasma. Baroncelli's modular lighting system built as mechanisms to create the old Roma. I was given the task to design four walls which married the products to the context. Using white chalk pens; 60mm and 30mm.

A typography work is always amazing to see, specially if besides that we have more than just hand made letters, but we have deep, graphic details, bevels and a uso of colors that make every single art almost a masterpiece. This is the work of Mario De Meyer, an graphic designer from Belgium. Take some time and give a look on his art!

Peter Tunney is an artist from New York who developed an amazing style of painting which is a mix of collages with acrylic painting over it and each piece carries a strong and positive message making it an outstanding composition. Check out some of his work on this post and enjoy!